My first element was water, then fire, then wind, and finally earth. I was a quadra elemental, like Arthur Leywin. You should have seen how my father's eyes lit up when he realized I could use all four elements.
I was immediately assigned conjurers for each element. They all held elite positions in the family and knew the secret of my awakening, so my father trusted them. I think so, anyway. Thanks to them, I also unlocked all the deviant types, and my [Mana Path] went from [Ordinary] to [Quasi Master].
At first, it was difficult because there was too much knowledge to absorb, but the talents [Perfect Memory (13)] and [Path of Wisdom] helped me a lot to sort everything out.
The moment I unlocked all four elements, several of my talents, or more precisely, [Connection with Mana (4)] [Mana Control (3)] and [Mana (2)] merged into one [Mage (3)]. The third level was the level of an elite mage, so even without doing anything, thanks to my talent, I could become a silver core mage by the age of 16, at least if I look at the trend of my mana, but I could be wrong.
I had already learned several basic spells, and it was easy, either because of [Mage (3)] or [Reincarnated Soul (9)], or maybe because of [Path of Mana], or maybe all of them together had such an amazing effect. I really wanted to move on to spells like [White Flame] or [Absolute Zero] or [Thunderclap Impulse], but I couldn't do the first two because I didn't quite understand all the intricacies of ice magic yet, and also because I couldn't train openly. I will train all of this in the Beast Glades.
And in the case of [Thunderclap Impulse], I just didn't want to take any risks, and I didn't know where and how to direct the mana correctly. It was better to be Arthur friend and ask him to teach me this technique. Otherwise, if I tried it myself and directed the lightning bolts incorrectly, I might end up cosplaying Stephen Hawking.
Nine months ago
Sitting in one of the many gardens, I tried to manifest my deviant ice magic more smoothly, but as a light-red level amplifier, it was more difficult than I expected. In the novel, it was so easy. Sighing quietly, I looked at one of my teachers.
Jody, a light yellow level conjurer, would have been incredibly handsome if he had taken care of himself a little and kept his back straight, but alas. About 177 cm tall, with skin color as if he had never seen the light of day and didn't eat enough, he was dressed in an expensive robe, onto which fell his greasy, seaweed-green hair. His slanted eyes, which seemed to glow the same color as his hair, complemented his appearance.
"Today, I will show you a spell that will help you both in defense and attack," Jody said, ruffling his oily hair. "First, I will sing the spell, but it would be good if you could do it quietly, as with all spells."
"Ahem, ahem," he coughed slightly, and the mana in his body stirred as he spoke. "O spirit of winter, hear my call, gather in the cold, give me strength again. Icy breath, stand before me, bind my enemies and protect me with your icy hand!"
As he said, an incredibly detailed ice hand appeared next to him, about six meters high and two meters wide. The hand curved around him in a protective manner.
"As you know," his hoarse, unpleasant voice brought me out of my analysis of his spell, "created spells are more difficult to control. It would be easier to create a ball of ice and throw it, but doing so leaves you unprotected, so spells were created that take years to train, but as you can see, they are effective."
To confirm his words, the icy hand suddenly straightened and cut the air in front of him, and in a second it became a wall, as if blocking the supposed blow. This spell immediately reminded me of another spell used by mages with a fire affinity.
"Flame Guardian," I muttered quietly, attracting Jody's attention. This spell was used by Lucas Wykes.
"Exactly, young sir!" he exclaimed, spitting saliva. "As I thought, with your talent, you would understand immediately. Yes, the ice hand is very similar in meaning to the Flame Guardian; all elements have similar spells. This is very pronounced at the basic levels or in the most useful spells. The same fireball exists in every element because it is easy and quite useful; with water, it can become..."
"both a barrier and a spear." I interrupted, making the water dance between my fingers, quickly changing its shape into a spear and then a whip, which slowly dissolved in my hands. This was what Arthur taught his students at the academy. In essence, this exercise trained the weak points of mages. Augmenters could easily turn their bodies into flames, but they couldn't push those flames out like a bullet. Conjurers, on the other hand, could easily cast spells into the distance, but they couldn't absorb them back into their bodies. This exercise trained the mana veins and mana channels, respectively, forcing the conjurer to draw the spell into the body and the augmenter to throw it at least a couple of meters.
"That's right, young sir, even the simplest spells can be deadly in the right hands!" Jody nodded fiercely.
As if to confirm his words, a ball of water appeared in his hands, which instantly froze, turning into ice, and changed into a long snake that lunged forward and with a loud
Bam
First it froze and then it smashed a large rock.
Jody nodded and looked at me and began to speak again.
"And you, as the only Quadra Elemental in history, should know and remember this: there are no strongest elements, there is only the strongest user, but even so, the elements have a natural counterbalance to each oth."
"Yes, yes," I interrupted him again, "I know, but it doesn't matter. Even if water extinguishes fire, if a fire mage has better control over his element, he can defeat a water mage."
I liked most of his explanations, but sometimes he spoke nonsense that this world teaches. It was quite clear that fire could be extinguished with water, but here everything was different. Here there was mana, and mana could easily outweigh the natural power of an element.
"I ha," he sighed quietly but continued, "Understand, young sir, try to create an ice hand or a fire guardian or any similar spell based on your favorite element."
So I did, slowly, mana flowed through my mana veins into the outside world. At that moment, it became cold. Ice was my favorite element, so I decided to make an ice guardian. Slowly, I began to create it in my head, step by step, and when I realized that 80% of the mana from my core had disappeared, I immediately released the spell into the outside world. With a hissing sound, clumps of ice appeared before my eyes, taking the form of a guardian forged from ice, but it was not as detailed as I wanted it to be. That was normal; the first spells always turn out differently than we want them to, but the most important thing was its size.
It was barely 40 centimeters tall.
It was a pity that my core simply couldn't create something stronger. My core immediately began to absorb and purify mana due to the [mana rotation], quickly replenishing the core.
Haha, embarrassment flooded my feelings. I was always so easily embarrassed by my failures and spoke little in this world. I became less embarrassed but more closed off due to the constant deaths in this estate.
It was terrible at first, but I even got used to it. There were rules here. Cross the head of the house's path - kill. Someone raised their voice at me and scolded me - kill. A maid spilled cold tea on me - kill.
The first few times were scary. I had never seen a person die, and I myself had killed animals like chickens, since I originally lived in the countryside, but that was different, or so I thought at first. It's almost funny now. The memories are very vivid: the eyes of my first knight, his stifled cry when my father pierced him with an icy spear, the blood on my face. It's as if it were yesterday. The frightened eyes of the rabbit when I carried it to cut off its head were very similar.
But I also understood how intertwined killing is with us. We kill animals when we want to eat. We kill people when they want to take something from us. And now we kill our own family to gain more control over them. Because of me, many people were killed. I was guarded and cared for like the apple of someone's eye, and even the slightest mistake on the part of those who were with me led to one thing: death. Murder was a very applicable law in this world, not only in this one, but in this one it was more open.
But now training with swords, spears, fists, and other melee weapons was about to begin, so enough of these dangerous thoughts.
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The Blackthorn estate was so huge that it looked more like a castle. Gardens and lawns intertwined with training rooms, both outdoors and inside the estate. Today was May 14, ten days after my birthday. I thought it was usually celebrated on the third, but it seemed that the family had other plans.
As usual, I was training with my mentor in one of the many closed rooms. The room was quite large, with many weapons, both real and training ones, standing against the walls. No one else was there; the family wanted to hide me as much as possible, although lately they had begun to open me up to the world.
Bam!
A strong blow from a spear knocked me off balance, causing me to roll to the right by inertia. I quickly tried to get up, but...
Thud!
A dull blow from a wooden spear hit me on the top of my head. If I hadn't put up my sword and redirected the force of the blow in time... My mentor's face expressed approval.
"Excellent, young sir, you are progressing very quickly," he said, approaching me and taking my sword. "Now we will exchange your sword for a spear, and in an hour you will begin training with Brian in archery, and in two hours with elemental mana."
Yes, I trained with several weapons at once. [Achievements] [Ordinary] level did not mean that I was a beginner; it meant a solid foundation on which to start building different techniques. I realized this when the real training began and my mentor, trying to figure out what would suit me best, gave me a sword, a bow, a spear, and even a mace, and I managed quite well with all of them. [Weapon Path], which arose from constantly observing fighters, helped a lot with this.
Also, at some point, a new talent related to this appeared.
[Warrior (1)]
Yes, it was the first level, but what did you expect? I was a three-year-old child. In addition, talents could evolve, so over time it would be possible to raise it to at least level 7. And since it was a talent, it needed time to unfold, whereas [Achievements] were easier in that regard, as they were instantaneous.
"Get ready, young sir," the instructor's voice brought me out of my thoughts again. "I'll start. Strengthen yourself with mana and blunt your spear."
So I did. Mana flowed through my veins and enveloped me from head to toe, strengthening me to a superhuman level. Although my mana core was already solid orange and my mentor's was dark orange, due to his age, he demonstrated a more developed muscle structure and refined technique than I did.
Even with excellent control over mana in the early stages, its strengthening potential was limited. It was fascinating from my point of view because, due to the higher level, I could strengthen myself more, but no matter how much I strengthened myself, if the initial number was small, it didn't matter. For example, I could strengthen myself five times, and my mentor could strengthen himself three and a half times, but his initial number was eight and mine was three. So yes, mana was not all-powerful in the early stages.
Whistle
My mentor's sword whistled past my ear. I held my spear at an angle and the sword slid past.
Spinning my spear, I made a swift lunge, aiming for my mentor's stomach.
Thud
My mentor parried my blow with a quiet but audible grunt. His movements were smooth and precise, and his blade met the tip of my spear with such force that I felt the cold floor slip away from My attack turned into an unexpected counterattack, and losing my balance, I rolled across the floor of the training hall. I quickly got to my feet and took up the defensive position I had been taught in my first training sessions.
As I got to my feet, I felt mana boiling in my veins, ready for action. My mentor stood in front of me, his head slightly tilted. His gaze was cold and focused. He was silent, but there was more meaning in that silence than in any words.
"Not bad, young sir," he said with a note of approval in his voice. "You know how to adapt quickly to changing combat conditions. However, you still rely too much on mana power, forgetting the importance of technique."
I didn't like being criticized, but I gritted my teeth, knowing he was right. Mana was exciting, and my talent for it was greater than my talent for fighting, so I unconsciously gravitated toward it whenever I made a mistake, which I tried to correct, by the way.
"I know, but I'm only three years old, cut me some slack," I said, trying to make my voice sound as pitiful as possible. I didn't care what he thought of me. I knew that whining would annoy him, and I had to use that to my advantage.
And just as I predicted, his eyebrows knitted together and his face expressed a momentary look of contempt. He opened his mouth, his voice sounding as cold as that of many who lived in the Blackthorn family.
"Young master, you are too..." His voice trailed off when I lunged.
I was small and nimble, so I decided to use my agility and speed. I feinted to the left and then abruptly changed direction, aiming for his knee. The mentor easily blocked my blow; his movements were so fast that I barely noticed them.
"You used that trick again," he nodded approvingly. "I like that you can take out your opponents like that, but you'd better focus on your technique."
Haah, I want to go to the bow range.
An hour later
Now I'm standing on the training ground for family security, holding a simple wooden bow in my left hand and taking an arrow from the quiver hanging on my back with my right. I place my feet shoulder-width apart and squeeze my buttocks to pull my pelvis forward. My back remains straight so that when I pull the bowstring, my arms and shoulders form the letter "T." Now my stance is comfortable enough to hold for a long time, but I remain firm and alert.
"Excellent work, young master, your stance is perfect," says Brian, one of the archers in my family whom my father has entrusted with honing my archery skills.
Brian is a young man in his early thirties with green hair and brown eyes. He is well-built but not as muscular and heavy as a melee fighter. His physique is essentially ideal for agility, which is extremely important for archers who have to keep their distance from enemies in long-range combat. As for his main stage, dark yellow, he is very strong for a man of his age.
My mentor praises me and shoots three wind bullets in front of me, which serve as targets for training at a speed fast enough for me to catch up with them.
"Begin!"
Hearing him, I instantly attach the arrow to the bowstring, having previously infused it with wind mana. Then I quickly pull the bowstring with three fingers of my right hand, bringing it close to my face. Aiming at the first wind bullet, I released the arrow, and it flew even faster than usual thanks to my wind augmentation. As soon as the arrow touched the target, Brian's wind bullet easily exploded. I repeated the same thing to easily knock down the two left bullets.
Then my mentor released another wave of bullets in large numbers and in different directions, but still at the same speed. It was a little difficult, but still cool for me. Now I had to move and shoot at targets at the same time, rather than holding my position, otherwise these bullets would definitely hit me before I could destroy them all.
Aiming at each bullet, I imagine them as my enemies, mana beasts or augmenters rushing at me. They move just like living creatures, and at that moment, I was amazed at how Brian conjured his attacks from a distance.
While I'm busy knocking one bullet into my blind spots, if they get a chance, several others will fly in immediately, like a predator hunting its prey. Thanks to two years of intense muscle and reflex training [Achievements] and honed whole-body augmentation techniques, this is just a warm-up for me. I fired one bullet after another for more than 20 minutes straight. Sometimes Brian had to interrupt the training because I ran out of arrows and had to collect a bunch of arrows stuck in the ground that I had shot earlier. Brian, how many more wind bullets can you conjure up?
"Okay, time's up. Now you can take a short break, young master Lucius. Come back in five minutes and we'll start the next exercise," Brian said.
"Yes, mentor," I replied.
I walked over to the bench where the maids had placed a jug of icy lemon juice and poured it into glass cups. After taking a sip of this delicious lemon juice, I sat down on the bench and relaxed a little before continuing Brian's lesson.
By the way, the sad news is that my three maids disappeared after I create mana core, and now I was doing almost everything myself. Now it was stressful because before I could tell for sure that someone was watching me, but now there were no maids or knights because of that, so I used [Eternal Blessings (15)] for fear of being exposed.
"Okay, then let's go back and continue training. Improve your eyes because this time I'm going to speed up my bullets," said Brian, gathering mana in his hand to prepare for faster wind bullets.
"Ready?"
"Go ahead," I replied.
He fired a wind bullet that was smaller in size but much faster, making it even more difficult to hit. Now the palm-sized bullet darted around the training field, constantly changing direction.
"I'll control this spell so that it only flies in any direction except towards you, due to the severity of the damage. So you only need to worry about hitting the target," Brian reminded me.
"Now we're in for a real challenge."
About 10 minutes later
Seeing my arrow hit Brian's bullet right on target, I finally fulfilled my prediction of the distance and moment when my arrow would touch that damn annoying bullet. Well, after more than 20 attempts.
"Yeah," I said with satisfaction, falling to the ground from exhaustion. Even [mana rotation] didn't help me here. To shoot this lightning-fast wind projectile launched by the dark yellow mage, I had to spend a lot of mana to improve my eyesight to try to catch up with it in speed.
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Joshua POV
Looking out the window, I watched as my most talented child quietly finished his lesson on manipulating elemental mana. A few moments after he left, the knights who had taught him everything gathered near the spellcasters, waiting for me. I quickly approached them, as I had been away for more than four months and needed to hear directly from them how quickly he was progressing.
"Head of the House," they all bowed.
"Bryan."
"Yes, my lord?"
"Tell me what you think of him. Answer honestly, without lies or flattery. I want to know his true capabilities," I said in a serious tone.
"I have never seen children, no, I have never seen anyone who developed so terrifyingly. The same applies to mana manipulation. Archer soldiers usually spend about two months learning archery, which I just taught him. The fastest result is three weeks. Young master Lucius did it in two weeks, and he's a three-year-old child."
I turned my gaze to the rough amplifier whose name I didn't even remember. His talent as a mage was small, but he spent that time mastering many weapons.
I raised an eyebrow, urging him to report.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat roughly. "Well, he's definitely talented, but he still tends to get discouraged at the slightest setback. But he's improving quickly. The first few weeks he was average, but after a month his speed started to pick up. Honestly, sometimes he seems to get lost in his thoughts, but as soon as he snaps out of it, he suddenly gets better. It's even scary now, after four months, his speed has increased even more, and in a couple of months, I probably won't be able to teach him anymore."
I was impressed, to say the least, but this rough fighter said what I needed to hear. And now it's time to find out the most interesting thing.
"The young master's talent is the most outstanding I have ever seen. He is good at every element and his deviant form is roughly the same. His pure talent in manipulating mana is practically brutal. We, the light yellow core mages, cannot catch up with him at times. But the most important thing is..."
The bespectacled, hunched mage with seaweed-colored hair stammered
"Well, continue," my aura burst out, pressing down on him
"The most important thing, apart from his talent, is his diligence. The young master can sit for hours trying to understand something. If it weren't for the need to go to the bathroom and eat, I think he wouldn't take a break from magic for a minute. Oh, definitely, his mana regenerates very quickly or is consumed very slowly. I don't quite understand, but we can conduct classes three times longer than we should, judging by his core."
"I see," I said simply, sinking into my thoughts, but on the surface I waved my hand. "You may go."
I realized that a smile had appeared on my lips. It seems worth mentioning that he awakened a triple mana core, which is why we didn't celebrate his birthday.
A couple of minutes later, I was sitting in the conference room, the light from the window softly spilling onto the white table. All the elders and several powerful mages were gathered around the table. My fingers intertwined and I placed them on my knee, relaxing slightly in my chair. It was absolutely clear to me where this conversation was going, so there was no point in getting tense.
"So, let's begin," my eyes scanned the room, focusing on the most boisterous ones. "Today's topic of conversation is the awakening of Lucius's mana core. Any ideas on what I should do?"
"Actually, yes, I have a couple," the fifth elder, Rhodes, was the first to respond, as I expected. He was always so quick-witted but couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Do you want to announce that Lucius awakened his mana core a couple of days before his birthday and that he is now your eldest son?"
There were gasps in the hall.
"Is it safe?" someone asked.
"No, absolutely not," someone replied categorically.
The words poured out of their mouths incessantly. By doing this, Lucius would practically become the next head, which they clearly did not want to see, and all his actions would affect the family's honor.
"It's too risky, Lord."
"He's only a three-year-old child."
The mana attached to my murderous intent silenced all dissent.
"Elder Rhodes is right," he nodded confidently as always, scratching his beard. "You don't know much, but Lucius has already reached the solid orange level, and his talent with all kinds of weapons is excellent. He has read and understood more books than any of your almost adult children. And he is the only Quadra Elemental on the entire continent."
Bam.
One of the strongest mages in the family rose from his chair, his eyes wide open and his manners seemingly gone.
"Quadra Elemental? You're not joking, are you, Chief?"
My eyebrow rose, and that was enough to shut his mouth.
Rods slowly opened his mouth, his hand nervously twirling his beard.
"I've heard that he's progressing quickly, but..." His fingers came together on his nose. "Solid orange and a Quadra Elemental at three years old? I'm sorry, Chief, but even to me that sounds very unrealistic."
"Tomorrow you will be able to see for yourself, but I am rendering my verdict in advance. Lucius will take the place of the firstborn, and" I felt my lips tremble slightly, "I expect Lucius to seduce the little princess."
My words caused a commotion again, but my gaze calmed them down.
"We all know what Blaine will try to do if he finds out that there is someone who awakened at the age of three. Therefore, I think it would be wise to bring Lucius and Princess Kathleen together, and Blaine himself will help with this, as he will understand that he will not be able to influence us otherwise. In this case, there are two outcomes. Princess Kathyln joins our family, and Lucius becomes the new head. I know this isn't the best option for you. I even like the second option. Lucius joins Blaine's family, and then, thanks to us, he quietly kills the prince and takes the throne himself, and you can continue to fight for the position of head of the Blackthorn family."
My eyes scanned the quiet room. I knew they would like this option. If Lucius became king, our family would only benefit, and the position of future head would be vacant, allowing them to compete for their own interests.
Haha, come on, Blaine, start preparing your daughter. I'll send this guy to her fifth birthday party. Let's see what you do. Even if you have spears, you won't attack openly, but you can definitely try to make your daughter fall in love with my son so you can control him. But unfortunately for you, Lucius is loyal to our family, he is loyal to me.
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I don't like this chapter.
Initially, I was going to write about the nobles' reactions to his awakening, but something went wrong.
Writing turned out to be more difficult than I initially thought, and because of my inexperience and meticulousness, I spend a lot of time on each chapter.
Unfortunately, I'm not Chinese, who can write 10,000 words a day and still have time for work and friends. The initial path of this fanfic is beyond my current capabilities. I will try to write another 20 chapters, but if something goes wrong, I would like to temporarily put this fanfic on hold and write another, less complicated one. I even have an idea. It's more childish, with a lighter plot, but it would be great practice if I can't handle the current story.